C. Hirayama

Tryptophan metabolism in liver disease

Abstract Plasma levels of tryptophan were observed in the fasting state and after oral administration of l -tryptophan in normal subjects and in patients with chronic liver disease. Mean plasma tryptophan levels in patients with liver cirrhosis slightly but not significantly increased, while in patients with hepatic encephalopathy or coma they significantly increased. The tryptophan loading test in cirrhosis patients was characterized by the higher plasma tryptophan levels than normal controls. Central nervous signs and symptoms caused by the ingestion of tryptophan were also marked in cirrhosis patients. Cirrhosis patients under treatment by microsomal enzyme inducers represented an improvement in tryptophan loading test.

Anabolic steroid effect on hepatic protein synthesis in patients with liver cirrhosis.

The effect of short-term treatment of anabolic steroid on the patients with compensated liver cirrhosis was assessed by the study on the hepatic protein synthesis in vitro. The results indicated that

Disturbed release of lipoprotein from ethanol-induced fatty liver

Nachweis, dass in der Ethanol-induzierten Fettleber der Ratte die « High Density Lipoprotein »-Synthese nicht beeinflusst und eine gestörte Freisetzung von Lipoproteinen aus der Leber angedeutet war.

Hypobilirubinemia in patients with polychlorinated biphenyls poisoning

Abstract The mean serum bilirubin concentration was 0.48 ± 0.26 mg /100 ml in 121 patients with polychlorinated biphenyl poisoning as compared with 0.87 ±0.33 mg/100 ml in 257 healthy adult controls. The serum bilirubin concentration in the patients correlated inversely with the blood levels of polychlorinated biphenyls and serum triglyceride concentration, characteristically increased in the poisoning.

Serum haptoglobin type and liver cirrhosis

SummaryHaptoglobin phenotypes were studied by a polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis on 200 blood donors and 105 patients with liver cirrhosis, of which 79% belonged to non-alcoholic etiology. Though no difference of haptoglobin types could be found between blood donors with positive and negative hepatitis B antigen, the cirrhosis patients had an excess haptoglobin gene 1. The patients with haptoglobin gene 1 were associated with severe liver dysfunction. Since the family pedigrees of the patients with type 1-1 excluded individuals with type 2-2, the phenotypes seemed to be stable in the cirrhotic process. The possibility that the haptoglobin 2 gene offered resistence to the non-alcoholic cirrhosis was discussed.

Serum γ-Globulins and Hepatitis-Associated Antigen in Blood Donors, Chronic Liver Disease and Primary Hepatoma

Serum level of γ-globulins was studied on 100 blood donors, 30 patients with chronic hepatitis, 51 patients with liver cirrhosis and 43 patients with primary hepatoma in regard to hepatitis-associated antigen (HAA). Blood donors with HAA had an increased level of γA as compared with subjects lacking HAA. In chronic hepatitis, no difference was recorded between the positive and the negative group. Liver cirrhosis patients with HAA had a raised level of γM and hepatoma patients with HAA seemed to have a raised level of γ-globulins, as compared with patients lacking HAA.

Metabolism of [131I]gamma globulins in patients with chronic liver disease

Abstract The turnover of injected 131 I-labelled γ-globulins has been observed in control subjects and patients with non-alcoholic liver diseases. In control subjects, the half-life of γG was 14.1 days and the synthetic rate 52 mg/kg/day. In patients with chronic active hepatitis and liver cirrhosis, the half-life was reduced and the synthetic rate increased. Following treatment with corticosteroids, the synthetic rate was reduced in patients with liver cirrhosis. In γA studies, the normal values of the half-life and the synthetic rate were 6.2 days and 29 mg/kg/day, respectively. In cirrhosis patients the synthetic rate increased. In γM studies, the normal values of the half-life and the synthetic rate were 6.0 days and 6 mg/kg/day, respectively. In cirrhosis patients, the half-life was prolonged and the synthetic rate increased.

Effect of α-tocopherol and tocopheronolactone on ethanol induced fatty liver and triglyceridemia

Es wird nachgewiesen, dass α-Tocopherol, nicht aber Tocopheronolacton, die Entstehung der Fettleber durch einmalige Alkoholbelastung bei der Ratte hemmt.

Serum Collagen-Like Protein in Patients with Chronic Liver Disease

The method of hot trichloroacetic acid extraction was proved to be simple and reliable for the determination of serum collagen-like protein. Serum collagen-like protein behaved as a macromolecular form by a gel filtration analysis and migrated electrophoretically in the β∼γ-globulin region. Serum levels of collagen-like protein increased in chronic liver disease, especially in chronic active hepatitis. Serum levels of collagen-like protein did not correlate to the morphological grade of hepatic fibrosis. Studies on biopsy liver specimens, labelled with 14C proline in vitro, could not confirm but might suggest that the specific radioactivities of hepatic collagen reflected serum levels of collagen-like protein.

Corticosteroid effect on hepatic collagens

Nach Cortison-Behandlung wird sowohl der Gehalt als auch die spezifische Aktivität des neutralen löslichen Kollagens in der Rattenleber vermindert. Die kollagenolytische Aktivität für das lösliche Kollagen vermehrt sich hingegen und zwar trotzdem die Aktivität für unlösliches Kollagen verändert blieb.